Since shortly after 9/11, BuzzFlash.com and other progressive sites - as well as many a book - offered extensive information that appeared to closely link some members of the Saudi Royal family to financing and supporting Al-Qaeda. This was something that the Bush Administration went to great lengths to deny, but their deference to the Saudis (including George W. walking pinky-entwined-with-pinky with Saudi princes, for real) was really all as usual about oil.

Mr Turnbull has refused to say whether Mr Grech has been supplying him with information
The Treasury official at the centre of the OzCar affair, Godwin Grech, has supplied unofficial information to the Coalition, dating back to its days in government, the ABC has learned.

The revelation lifts already intense pressure on Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull to explain how much he knew, and when, about the email forgery that has backfired so spectacularly.

Barack Obama, the US president, has condemned as "unjust" the Iranian government's treatment of protesters disputing results of the recent presidential poll.

Obama said the international community was "appalled and outraged" by what he said were the "threats, beatings, and imprisonments" of demonstrators.

"I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering in Iran's affairs,'' he said during a news conference at the White House on Tuesday.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says his bid to defer a vote on an emissions trading scheme is not designed to delay action on climate change.

He wants debate on the scheme to be pushed back to the next sitting period in August to allow more economic modelling to be done.

Senator Xenophon says the Parliament should consider alternative designs for the scheme that would have less economic impact.

But he says a decision should be made during the next sitting week.

A confidential record of a meeting between President Bush and Tony Blair before the invasion of Iraq, outlining their intention to go to war without a second United Nations resolution, will be an explosive issue for the official inquiry into the UK's role in toppling Saddam Hussein.

At more than $15 billion, the F-35 fleet will be the single largest purchase of any kind by an Australian government since Federation.The yet-to-be-completed F-35 has been plagued by cost overruns and delays, but it has retained the solid support of both the RAAF and Dr Nelson, who says it is easily the best, most cost-effective option for Australia's strategic requirements.

then ....

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has challenged the opposition to prove claims that he abused his position to help a friend's car-dealing business.

Mr Rudd said opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull must resign if he fails to produce an e-mail on which the claims are based by Monday afternoon.
Mr Turnbull has called for the prime minister to stand down, accusing him of lying to parliament over the issue.

"They have used their offices & taxpayers' resources to seek advantage for one of their mates & then lied about it to the Parliament."

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that the BRIC economies are a factor of stability and growth amid the global economic crisis when commenting on the first BRIC summit meeting in Russia earlier this week, according to local media reports. Singh told Indian journalists that there was a need for reforming the present systems of global governance and international financial system.

He expressed his hope that the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- would not remain only a "talk-shop" and they would work together so that their voice is heard in the global arena.

And yet, broadly speaking, Obama has been lying on a pretty impressive scale. You just have to get past his grandiloquent rhetoric - usually empty of substance - to get a handle on it. I offer a short, incomplete list, which I'm sure others could easily enlarge.

It isn't quite fair to call Barack Obama a liar. During the campaign he carefully avoided committing to much of anything important that he might have to take back later. For now, I won't quibble with The St. Petersburg Times's Obamameter, which so far has the president keeping 30 promises and breaking only six.

A Republican Senator who once denounced President Bill Clinton for his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky has confessed to an affair with a campaign aide whose husband also worked for him.

John Ensign of Nevada, 51, an evangelical Christian who had presidential ambitions, read out a statement in which he admitted to having "violated the vows of our marriage" to his wife Darlene.

President Barack Obama, referring to the violent attacks on protesters against the controversial election results in Iran's just-completed presidential election, this week lectured Iran's government, saying, "Peaceful dissent should never be subject to violence."

Referring to the tens and hundreds of thousands of frustrated and angry Iranians who have taken to the streets accusing Iranian authorities of rigging the election in favor of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Obama said that "the Iranian people and their voices should be heard and respected."

from Crikey .....

 Mulrunji inquest reopens ... to tell us what we don't know

 National Indigenous Times editor Chris Graham writes:

Given what we know already from leaks, the secrecy surrounding the Chilcot Iraq inquiry is as absurd as it is scandalous.

There really is no legitimate reason now for any of the inquiry into the invasion of Iraq to be held in private. Extremely sensitive information, intelligence material in particular, has already been disclosed, either here or in the US, by official inquiries or leaks.